Steam-heating system.



J. B.-DOBSON.

STEAM HEATING SYSTEM.

APPLICATION FILED HAY3.1913.

Patented Jan. 16, 1917.

nvmtoz UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN B. DOIBSON, OF ATLANTA, GEORGIA, ASSIGNOR TO WARREN WEBSTER &COMPANY,

A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

STEAM-HEATING SYSTEM.

steam to the radiator in accordance with the requirements of thesurrounding atmosphere, so that. a constant or substantially constanttemperature may be maintained in the room, the apparatus beingresponsive to every variation, in a gradual manner, to the end thatthere may be a continuous supply of steam to the radiator, and saidsupply throttled to a greater or less extent asthe temperatureconditions of the room may re quire. In the common method employed insteam heating systems, the supply valve controlling the steam to theradiator is au- -f tomatically completely shut off or fully 7 k ableconstruction. As shown, the steam is openedat intervals under thecontrol of a thermostatic device, and such variations are thereforeabrupt and do not secure the highest efliciency, nor doithey maintainthe temperature as constant as it should be. By

the employment of my] improvements, the

temperature may: be so radually changed 1 by the operation of the evicethat reversal v of the device will respond to the veryslightestvariations in temperature conditions and cause the apparatus. to beoperated ma responslve manner thereto.

My invention conslsts in providing the radiator with a steam supplyvalve which is positively moved in one direction by a spring andautomatically moved inthe other direction a I to control t e movement ofthe valve iece for regulating the amount ofstearn w ich is supplied tothe radiator, and combining therewith a thermostatically operatedmotorlocated at a distance from 'thelr'adiator and connected with the valve.by a suitable connection leading from an' operative vportion of themotor device to the valve stem or a part connected therewith for!operating the valve piece. h

Specification of Letters Patent.

inst the action of the spring,

Patented Jan. 16, 1917.

Application filed May 3, 1913. Serial No. 765,204,

My invention also comprehends the construct1on of the valve in suchmanner that the valve' piece may be relatively adjusted by hand to varythe degree of normal openlng, whlle maintaining the operative connectionand relation with "the thermostatically operated means for changing thedegree of o ening of the valve within predetermined imits.

My invention also comprehends details of construction which, togetherwith the features above specified, will be better undervice shown inFig. 1; Fig. 3 is a plan view of the same with the upper portion of thevalve stemremoved; and Fig. 4 is an elevation of a modified, formofvalve also embodying my invention.

2 is the radiator and may be of any suitsupplied to ,the radiator from apipe 1 through a supply valve 3. The water and air from the radiator aredelivered to the return pi e 5 through a return trap or valve 4. Theeating system may be operated with a partial vacuum in the return pipe,

' as is customary in vacuum systems, orwith approximately atmosphericpressure therein, such as is employed in gravity systems, theseadaptations being immaterial to my invention. A

The supply valves 3 may be made in various forms, but I' haveillustrated two special forms which are" illustrative of the generalcharacter of the invention, in so far as it involves the valvemechanism. Referring to the valve shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, the valvebody is provided with a valve seat 12which is controlled by the valveiece 13, the latter being' adapted to be raised or lowered by re: tatingthe spindle 14 inthe usual way employed in operating globe valves;Clarnped upon the spindle 14, so as to be frictionally held thereon, isan arm 15, the frictioubeing increased or decreased'as may be requiredby the split end of the arm and adjusting screw indicated at,

16 surrounds the spindle, and has one end connected with a post 18 andthe other end connected to or made to act upon the arm 15 so as tonormally swing the arm 15 in the arc of a circle between the posts 17and 18. As shown in the drawings, this spring acts to rotate the spindle14 to raise the valve piece 13 and admit more steam to the radiator. Theextent of the opening is limited by contact of the arm 15 with the post18. The arm 15 is connected by a flexible wire or light chain 9 with amotor device 6 which operates it in accordance with variations intemperature in the room. As shown, the

motor device 6 may comprise a thermostatic stretch of the wire betweensaid guide wheel expansible member 7 of the bellows type which may bepartly filled'with an expansible saturated atmosphere or vapor derivedfrom a fluid, or may be filled or partly filled with any mediumheretofore employed in thermostatic members of this character whichexpand upon an increase of temperature of the surrounding atmosphere andcontract by a cooling of the same. The expan'y sible member 7 operates alever 8 whose free\ end is connected to the wire or chain 9, so that anymovement of, said lever will be imparted to the arm 15 of thevalve. Toenable:

the thermostatic motor device 6 to be'located at a distance from theradiator, the wire or chain 9 may be guided over pulleys 10 and 11fastened in any suitable manner to any convenient support. As shown, oneof said pulleys 10 is secured to the base of the motor and the other ofsaid pulleys 11 is secured upon the radiator to provide a horizontal 11and thearm 15 of the valve device. It is furthermore to be understoodthat, in the preferredconstruction of this valve device, the occupant ofthe room may adjust the valve piece by turningtheyspindle 14 by hand tothe desired position to secure reasonable comfort in the temperatureofthe room. If then the room should become cool, or windows should besuddenly opened to chill the thermostatic motor device, the tension onthe wire or chain 9 will be reduced and the spring 16 will rotate thespindle .14 with the result that the valve piece 13 will open the port12 to a greater extent and thereby admit more steam to the radiator forthe purpose of automatically raising the'temperature of the surroundingatmosphere. this'manner, the thermostatic motor device will produce alldegrees of adjustment of the valve piece to insure a relatively normaltemperature. being maintained and to quickly; control the yalve pieceshould any abnormal variations in temperature of the room occur byopening of doors or windows.

A At the same time, the valve piece is within control of the occupant ofthe room, for any Any other suitable 'fric- A tional contact may beemployed. A spring definite opening of the valve to suit widelydifferent conditions in the outside atmosphere which may occur from timeto time through the season. From this, it will be seen that the valvehas two capacities; one for static adjustment,which is performed byhand,- and the other for automatic adjustment which is controlled by thethermofstatic motor device, the latter adjustment acting to modify tosome extent the static adjustment of the former. In this Way, theautomatic adjustment does not havezto have excessive limits ofoperation, and does not interfere with the free independence of theoccupant of the room to vary the normal opening-of the valve t2 suit thevarying conditions of the outside atmosphere. If the thermostatic motordevice is arranged to move the lever B only at a definite variation,approximating the maximum temperature permitted, then it is evident thatthe device as a whole will only be adapted for that maximum temperature,but thermostatic motor devices and thermostatic control devices are wellknown in the market which ma be adjusted for various temperatures an maybe employed in place of the particular motor here'shown by way ofillustration. I have indicated in the thermostaticmotor device 6, ascrew and pointer'fi for adjusting the pivot block 8 for the lever 8, I

so as to change its time of operation under the action of the bellows 7whereby the lever 8 will respond to operate the valve at a higher orlower temperature, thereby giving capacity fortheoperation of the auto-vmatic mechanism for varying maximum temperaturesin the room, said mannerof adjustment being given by way of example only and in no sense to betaken as a restriction. a

. In Fig. 4, I have shown the valve device arranged for a verticallyreciprocating valve stem'l'l and valve piece 13, instead of ro- Itating'said parts as in the mascot Fi 2.

In this construction, .a spring 16 ten sto H open the valve by movingthe stem u wardly, and the lever 15 actsto close t e valve by moving thevalve stem downward against'the action of the spring. The lever 15 isoperated b the wire or, chain '9 connectedwith the ever 8 of thethermostatic member 'lrarranged at a distance. The valve device isfurther provided. with a hand operated screw 19 whichmay be adjusted byhand to limit the maximum opening of the valve under the actionof' the,s ring 16 to thereby give the occupant of t e room the power to varythe maximum admissionof steam, or as in the other construction of'valve, to shut ofi all supply of steam when it is not desired to havethe radiator in use.

- I do not restrict myself in an manner to the details of construction 0the valve; mechanism, but. give the examples. here device at a distancefrom the radiator,and

shown as suitable constructions for embodymg m improvements in operativeform, and

:there ore while I have shown the preferred constructions, I do notlimit myself thereto, as these may be modified in various ways withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention.

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a heating system, the combination of, a radiator, with a steamsupply valve havin a spring actuated valve piece upon the radiator tomechanically tend to vary the admission of steam to the radiator, athermostatically operated motor device at a distance from the radiator,a guiding device fixed to the radiator in horizontal a inement with thevalve, connecting means between the thermostatically operated motordevice and the spring actuated valve piece consisting of a flexiblecable guided about the gulding device to pull in a horizontaldirectionupon the valve whereby the action of the spring is opposed andcontrolled to overcome in an automatic manner to change the supply ofsteam to the radiator to suit the requirements of the changingtemperature of the room, and hand operable means for opening or closingthe valve independently of the automatic means. v

2. In a heating system, the combination of a radiator, with a steamsupply valve having a spring actuated valve piece to mechanically \tendto reduce the admission of steam to the radiator, a hand operated parton the supply valve to manually adjust the-normal opening of the valveto be per! mitted and to shut ofi all supply of steam at will, athermostatically operated motor connecting means between thethermostatically operated motor device and hand ad'- justing partof thespring actuated -valvepiece whereby the action of the spring iscontinually opposed and controlled or over- .come in auautomaticandcontinuous. man- 'fnerto reducethe supply of steam to the radiatordually and to such extentlo'nly to suit -t e u renients of r the]changing temperature'zo the room, said automatic adjustment smile; valvepiecebeing impressed upon the valve as a whole; in addition to themanual adjustmentand to partially close the-valve only at anytime.

3. In a heatinggsystem,'the combination of a radiator, a valve fforsupplying :4 steam thereto having adtrovabldvalYQ piece, a

s ring to move the valvefpiece tovmcrease t e supply" of steam to theradiator to a maximum, a thermostatic motor a at a; distance from theradiator,";means connecting the thermostatic motor withithe valve ieceoppose the action '0 the spring above t e normal I temperature requiredand vice versa to reduce the steam supply from a maximum to minimumnormal supply, and hand operated means independent of the spring andmotor for adusting the normal maximum permissible opening of the valvewhile maintainin the automatic control thereof and also for ully closingthe valve to shut off the steam supply without affecting thethermostatic motor and its connections. a

4. The combination of a radiator, a steam su ply globe valve thereforhaving a rotata le valve stem, hand operable means for rotating thevalve for more than one revolution, a spring constantly acting to rotatethe stem in one direction to open the valve, a thermostatic motor at adistance from the valve, a flexible connection between the thermostati'cmotor andvalve stem to rotate it in 0 position to the spring to reducethe suppey of steam but not close the valve, means tween the valve stemand flexible connection to permit the hand adjustment of the stem toclose the valve, and means for guiding the flexible connection. I

5. The comb'nation of a radiator, a steam supply valve therefor having arotatable stem and valve piece, an arm frictionally held to the rotata1e stem whereby the valve piece may be adjusted upon the stem, a springconstantly acting on the arm to rotate the stem in, one direction, meansto limit the movement of the arm, a thermostatic motor,

and a connection between the motor and the arm whereby the latter'ismoved in opposition to the spring when the temperature adjacent to themotor is too high and vice versa.

g 6; The combination of a radiator, a steam supply valve therefor havinga rotatable stem and valve an arm frictionally held'to the rotata 1estem for adjusting the valve'plece, a spring constantly acting on thearm to rotate the stem in one direction,

,hand'means for turning the stem and adjustin the valve piece relativelyto the frictional y held arm, means to limit the movement of the arm, athermostatic motor, and

a'xconnection between the motor and the arm photo for appl ing orce tomove the mov "-able part of t e valve in one direction, a

thermostatic motor and connection between it and the movable part of thevalveto continually act to moveit inthe opposite direction under varyingconditions of temperature of the-atmosphere "surrounding thethermostatic motor, whereby the movable part of the valve will becontinually under the valve during the automatic control the combinedactions of two oppositely dithereof. 1 10 rected forces to vary thesupply of steam to In testimony of which invention, I herethe radiatorin accordance with the varia: unto setmy hand.

5 tions in temperatureof the atmosphere sur- JOHN B. DOBSON.

rounding the thermostatic motor, and hand Witnesses: means for adjustingthe normal maximum RALPH G. DoBsoN,

opening and closing of the movable part of FRANK H. VERLANDER, Jr.

